ITS OFFICIAL, THE RSPCA HAVE NO POWER TO SEIZE PETS

Charities: Animal Welfare

Question

Asked by Lord Elton

WELL DONE LORD ELTON

To ask Her Majesty's Government under what authority, controls and supervision and in what circumstances officers of a charity are empowered to (a) remove a pet from its owner's care, (b) keep it in their own care, (c) deny access to it to the owner, and (d) refuse to inform the owner of the place in which it is kept. [HL2038]

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Lord Davies of Oldham): Charities have no power under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 to seize pet animals. The power of seizure can be exercised only by a police officer, an officer of a local authority or Animal Health. If the person who was responsible for the animal has concerns regarding its welfare following seizure then it is open to him to apply to the court for an order which could, among other things, grant him custody over the animal. Anyone aggrieved by the removal of an animal under the Animal Welfare Act may appeal to a magistrate's court for its return. The location of a seized animal may be withheld if it is considered that there is a danger that the animal may be stolen back.


Rodney Elton, 2nd Baron Elton (born 2 March 1930) is a British politician and Conservative member of the House of Lords.


Lord Elton was educated at Eton College and New College, Oxford. The son of Godfrey Elton, 1st Baron Elton, Lord Elton succeeded to the peerage on his father's death in 1973. On the formation of a Conservative government after the 1979 general election, Lord Elton was made a Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Northern Ireland Office. In 1981 he was moved to the Department of Health and Social Security and in 1982 to the Home Office. In 1984 he was promoted to Minister of State within the Home Office. In 1985, Lord Elton joined the Department of Environment, again as a Minister of State, but left the government the following year.
With the passage of the House of Lords Act 1999, Lord Elton along with almost all other hereditary peers lost his automatic right to sit in the House of Lords. He was however elected as one of the ninety elected hereditary peers to remain in the House of Lords pending completion of House of Lords reform.
Lord Elton was a candidate to become Lord Speaker in the elections that took place at the end of June 2006, but he was defeated, with Helene Hayman ultimately winning.


http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200910/ldhansrd/text/100223w0002.htm